Home : Blogs : Maureen McCabe Central OH Homes : Columbus Ohio real estate

It's the economy, stupid...

Who am I calling stupid? No one.

A sign of the times.... a comment on my Discover Columbus blog on an entry about Columbus Food & Restaurant forums says:

Apr. 4, 2008 - RE: Columbus Restaurant Forum

Posted by Sam DeTillio

Rob DeTillio chef of Thom 's on Grandview was recently fired because the owner claimed he couldn't afford to pay him. So i would like to ask everyone who reads this to boycott going to Thom's on Grandview because the food will not be nearly as good as when my father worked there.

P.S: be aware of the seafood

I've never tried Thom's on Grandview and I would really hate to post anything about a struggling businss that would hurt the owner's and other employees any worse... I thought about not approving Sam's comment on Discover Columbus.

I feel sorry for both Rob and Sam... Rob's entire famly. I wonder how old Sam is.

I think I will try to do lunch at Thom's one day this week... Is Sam's cryptic P.S. beware of the seafood or be aware of the seafood? Thom Coffman one of the owners of Thom's is a respected leader in the restaurant industry.

I think the idea of boycotting a business because they had to make a cut in light of the economy would not be a good idea...

More signs of the time for the City of Columbus and another industry

Columbus lost an airline Friday April 4, 2008.

Skybus shuts down effective today... it was just announced yesterday...

Skybus I am going to post the whole announcement here incase they take down the Skybus site. I would think a website is a a minor expense in the scheme of things with rising fuel costs and a faltering economy but this is historic news for Columbus Ohio...

"Skybus Airlines will cease all operations effective Saturday, April 5.

Skybus struggled to overcome the combination of rising jet fuel costs and a slowing economic environment. These two issues proved to be insurmountable for a new carrier.

We deeply regret the impact this decision will have on our employees and their families, customers, vendors, suppliers, airport officials and others in the cities in which we have operated. Our financial condition is such that our Board of Directors felt it had no choice but to cease operations.

Passengers holding reservations for Skybus flights scheduled to depart on or after Saturday, April 5, 2008 should contact their credit card companies to arrange to apply for a refund. More information for customers and others will be made available on the Skybus web site (www.skybus.com) as it becomes available.

All flights for Friday, April 4 will be completed. Passengers holding reservations on flights for Friday, April 4 should check in for their flight at a Skybus kiosk at the airport instead of the Skybus website. "

The Columbus airline was not a year old.

An idea ahead of it's time? The airline which was started with seed money from Battelle, Huntington Capital Investment Co. and Wolfe Enterprises Inc. (the Wolfe family owns the Columbus Dipatch) had seats on each flight that they sold for 10 dollars. The airline was 10 months old.

450 Skybus employee's lost their jobs yesterday.

Skybus shuts down, cancels all flights by Marla Matzer Rose Friday, April 4, 2008 11:11 PM.

Skybus folds by Marla Matzer Rose of the Columbus Dispatch I believe it says this is 3:18 AM on the 5th.

Lots of aviation industry experts said from the very beginning that the Skybus business model was a dumb idea.

It's not just Columbus or Ohio...sad news about an old established airline in another state...

From Jeffery Griffin Where are we heading?

I'd read Randy's Aloha Airlines Stops Flights, Mortgage Crisis to Blame?

How are restaurants, businesses and industries doing in your area?

This photo of the Columbus Ohio Skyline Photo above is from Wikipedia. "Skyline of Columbus, Ohio Photo shot by Derek Jensen (Tysto), 2006-01-23, Wikipedia says I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In case this is not legally possible:I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law."

Thanks Derek

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Connect with me, Maureen McCabe

RSS or email subscription to Central Ohio real estate market news:

Subscribe to Discover Columbus OH - Columbus and Central Ohio

Subscribe to Worthington Old and News - Worthington real estate

Posted by Maureen McCabe Central OH Homes on 04/05/2008 07:26 AM

Comments (21)

Columbus Jobs in the Regional (Localism) Channel

economy, columbus ohio

Originally posted at: Columbus Ohio real estate : It's the economy, stupid...

This post has been included in Ohio Information Franklin County, OH Information Columbus, OH Information
Post is included in group: Real Living
Post is included in group: My other blog is

21 Comments on It's the economy, stupid...

APR

2008

Maureen, it is the economy and things are changing fast as well in New Orleans. Restaurants are doing ok, that is those that are open. Many have rebuilt since Hurricane Katrina many have not.

Kinda like kicking them when they're down.

All of these companies either going out of business or in financial trouble these days rely on some commodity to make their service work. Airlines rely on fuel and restaurants rely on food resources, priced higher than ever.

Look for more airline and restaurant failures until the cost of fuel and food resources come down. Or, wages of consumers to rise to a point where price will not cause them to deny themselves of their needs or wants

Folks do need to fly from time to time. Folks do not usually really have to go to restaurants. Sad but true. There are probably not cheaper airlines. There are probably cheaper restaurants.

Thanks for the comments.

We went out to eat this past Thurday... at a restaurant that is locally owned... it is a chain, regional I think and I started wondering about how local restaurants were doing, if this is affecting them... so maybe I was already thinking about this...

I did post Sam's comment and I am not calling him stupid. I have empathy for him and his family.. it just is such a catchy title. It is a quote isn't it? I am not sure who. Bill Clinton? Prior to being president?

Yep Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign to be exact... Wikipedia

The restaurant we went to this week is in a tough area for business, high rent kinda in between... I will blog about it somewhere soon I think...

I am glad to hear restaurants are doing good Frank... I was listening to an interview with a musician from NO LA last night ... who is not working out of New Orleans right now (could not tell you WHO he was.. I was only half paying attention when I was driving...)

Thanks for the comment Carol. I feel for the families of the 450 Skybus employees.

The timing was way off for Skybus. I read some of the gurus in the aviation industry when Skybus started and I hoped they were wrong. Thanks for the comment Lenn.

I had a owner of a real estate office call me a few years ago and ask for some closed sales information on a shared commission deal, I didn't ask why, but he volunteered that his firm was being audited and I thought that was dumb of him to tell me (especially since I didn't ask). He could have asked for a copy of the HUD for his buyer or his file and I wouldn't have given it a further thought now I'm wondering if he is going to make it..

I know a few people who have flown out of Portsmouth NH on Skybus and they loved it, such a shame.

James Carvelle coined the phrase.

I am finding a lot of small businesses and retaurants in Atlanta shutting down. My favorite Chinese restaurant in Atlanta that I've been going to since 1992 has closed its doors! Why? The high price of a gallon of gas has taken that little bit of discretionary income out of the consumer's wallet! Oil is the straw that broke the camel's back!

When home prices got into the stratesphere, folks moved farther and farther out to buy a home. Then the price of gas hit the stratesphere. Now they spend $14 a day commuting to and from work. There goes the restaurant budget.

Hi Maureen,

In Silicon Valley, gas prices are extremely high - yesterday it was nearly $4 per gallon when I filled up (for the high grade) - self serve, of course. Seems like a LOT of airlines are hurting. Now two to Hawaii have gone bankrupt (both Aloha and ATA). I think the price of gas is really going to impact tourism there.

In terms of our local businesses, I am really seeing the real estate related businesses hurting. There's a lot of consolidation going on (closing two branches of a title company, for instance, and merging them). (Here title & escrow are both done by a title company, btw.) My friends in title are all taking paycuts and seeing layoffs. One man who was an employee for more than 20 years with his title company lost his job.

California is in the midst of a huge budget defecit. Cuts are coming everywhere, from shutting down about 50 state parks to laying off a large percentage of teachers. I know one two-teacher family in which they both got pink slips.

Being a "declining state", property taxes are going down, so now the counties will also get less revenue to support schools, police, fire etc. Those new, lower taxes will be a drop in the bucket for the homeowners but collectively are going to choke basic services. It's going to get worse.

I keep reading that our housing market is not nearly so dire as in other places (Sacramento, Stockton, Vegas, Florida), but for much of the San Jose area, it's pretty bad nonetheless.

But you must understand 'we are not in a recession' (me saying with tough in cheek)....bull hunky we're not in a recession...my husbands hours were cut back recently because business is down (he works at a major department store), foreclosures at an all time high, businesses closing down, unemployment up, gas and food prices at an all time high...if this is not a recession then what is????????

We took our family out to dinner Tuesday night to celebrate our son's birthday and I made a comment to my husband that it didn't look like we was hurting very much as far as restaraunts go, every where was busy, the joy of living in a college town, I guess. But I know of several real estate companies that are about to downsize their office spaces, so it is definitely mixed in our area.

I read on another outside blog a commentary on the comparison of SkyBus - who serves ordinary people - going out of business, while NetJet - who serves corporate execs - just announced their expansion recently at Port Columbus. Big hoopla on the NetJet success.

Companies that compete only on low price, as SkyBus did with their $10 seats, are very vulnerable to any market fluctuations.

APR

2008

Thanks all for the comments

Jay - it sounds like James Carvelle! People either loved or hated Skybus. Those who got stranded at Christmas time hated it for good reason. There was no customer service... it was part of the business model,that's got to be tough. Smaller markets having service had to be wonderful when it worked... It is based on an airline in Ireland, Ryan Air (Aer?) ..... not all of the seats were 10... that's marketing but it was lower priced and I know people who loved it.

Lenn and Kim Our housing prices are low but that has not kept us from sprawling out into the country or maybe because the land was so cheap we built out into to cornfields. There must be more of this epensive gas being guzzeled in commuting. I hope the restaurant business is not hurting here but gas prices have to hurt us all.

Mary Pope Handy - I was not paying a lot of attention to airlines... even though the Skybus CEO stepped down a week or so ago... denial? I was shocked when I heard the Skybus news on Friday... I knew it was a risky (many in the business said dumb) business model and that fuel prices had to be crippling ... but I was shicked to hear the news.

Mary W. I appreciate your "tongue in cheek" The founder of our company was at our sales meeting Tuesday and was comparing 2008 with 1982... just a few of the old timers are left in our office.

Michelle I was thrilled to see lots of people at a restaurant in the Crosswoods area when we went out a week ago. Crosswoods is a pretty tough place for restaurants, lots of competition ... It's just south of the Polaris area which is newer. There has always been a lot of turnover in restaurants in the Crosswoods area. Columbus is a very competitive market for restaurants, seems like they are always opening and closing in some areas. Last Sunday's Columbus Dispatch had an article about about restaurant chains still being very attracted to Columbus.

Elaine There's lots of places to read about the business. it is was a risky business model, I wrote about it once long ago on one of my blogs, when it started, lots of what I read then said it was doomed. It's just sad that the timing was so bad and 450 people in Cenral Ohio are out of jobs...

Our market economy takes care of inefficiency and lack of demand. The market forces businesses to make a profit or get out and make room for the next entrepreneur. It is the best way to insure we all get what we want. Too bad for the airlines and restauarants that get hit. Others will replace them or we will travel less and eat at home.

APR

2008

Mahalo for the link sad about the airlines going down here in Hawaii this effects us in so many ways. more then most people will know. Aloah ha ha Jeffery

The midwest is being hit hard by high energy prices, in addition to seeing too many jobs sent overseas at the behest of the government.

APR

2008

Seems like taking advantage of a bad situation.

APR

2008

Thanks all for the comments... well almost all anyway

Columbus used to be considered recession proof. The largest employers are state government, OSU. We don't have industries like other large Ohio and mid-western cities, very, very, very little manufacturing.

I spoke briefly to a man who works in the tourist industry in Hawaii on Friday, he said his business is way down because of the two airline failures there.

OCT

2008

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?